Stats SA has overestimated agriculture’s GDP decline last year, says think tank

Independent think tank, the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), believes that the year-on-year (y-o-y) decline in the country’s agricultural sector gross domestic product (GDP) last year, as reported by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), is seriously in error. BFAP analysed the available data in its latest brief report, “Perspectives on Agricultural Performance in Q4 of 2023”. Stats SA reported that the sector saw a drop in GDP of 12.2%, while BFAP’s analysis indicates that it was less than half, perhaps even only one sixth, of this. (South Africa’s total GDP grew by 0.6% in real terms, last year, according to Stats SA.)